The inspiration behind Dead Man's Wharf- a DI Andy Horton Mystery

Without giving away the plot of Dead Man’s Wharf I wondered if I could have a body found there. I contacted Kendall’s Wharf who were kind enough to spare me the time to explain their operations and show me around. From that visit came further ideas for the plot line.
Dead Man’s Wharf doesn’t start with the discovery of a body though.
The story begins in January when Inspector Andy Horton and Sergeant Barney Cantelli are detailed to investigate a series of threatening telephone calls being made to a TV personality who fronts a popular television series called ‘Wrecks Around Britain’. Horton is convinced it is a publicity stunt and is annoyed that their time is being wasted when their workload is so heavy.
Then he and Cantelli are called to a nursing home where the relative of an elderly lady suffering from dementia claims she has been attacked in the night. This time Horton is not so sure this is a case of dementia-driven delusions especially when he discovers that the elderly lady’s room-mate has died. Furthermore there is a link to her son’s recent death in prison.
As if that isn't enough Horton is troubled by a mother's distressed insistence that her son’s fatal car accident on Christmas Eve was not an accident.

Then there is the matter of Horton’s personal and professional life. Horton is still reeling from the startling discovery (The Suffocating Sea #3) that the disappearance of his mother, Jennifer, thirty years ago was not as he thought, a single mother abandoning her child because she didn’t want a kid in tow, but could be linked to an international criminal. (If you've read A DEADLY WAKE, no. 15 in the Horton series then you will know the truth!)
In DEAD MAN'S WHARF not only is Horton trying to establish what happened to Jennifer but he is also newly separated from his wife, Catherine, who is determined to prevent him from having access to their eight year old daughter.
And to cap it all Horton has a new boss, the overly ambitious Detective Chief Inspector Lorraine Bliss who has been catapulted into CID from another division. It is clear that Bliss and Horton will never see eye to eye on policing and other matters.
This crime novel like my others is multi-layered and soon Horton is drawn into a complex investigation that holds danger for him and Cantelli.
'Rowson turns out an exemplary procedural with the requisite plot twists, double-crosses and all loose ends tied up neatly in a sailor’s knot.' Starred Review Kirkus (USA)
Available in paperback, as an ebook, on Amazon Kindle and Kobo and as an unabridged audio book. It can also be loaned from public libraries.




POSTED BY: PAULINE ROWSON
JANUARY 7TH, 2021 @ 6:19:21 UTC
JANUARY 7TH, 2021 @ 6:19:21 UTC
Comments
RE: The inspiration behind Dead Man's Wharf- a DI Andy Horton Mystery
The D.I.Horton mysteries are absolutely enthralling. I happened on one by chance and from then on was hooked. Thank you so much.
COMMENT BY ANNE, FEBRUARY 6TH, 2020 @ 17:52:50 UTC
RE: The inspiration behind Dead Man's Wharf- a DI Andy Horton Mystery
Lovely to hear from you, Anne and delighted you`re hooked. Glad you are enjoying Andy`s exploits.
COMMENT BY PAULINE ROWSON, FEBRUARY 6TH, 2020 @ 18:21:12 UTC
Leave Comment
- 2021
- 2020
- December
- November
- October
- September
- August
- July
- June
- May
- April
- March
- February
- January
- Where are the DI Andy Horton mysteries set?
- Join me at Hythe Library to hear about my crime busting heroes
- Researching police procedure
- Pauline Rowson and Graham Hurley join real life crime experts in CSI Winchester
- Why libraries matter - saving our precious libraries
- The art of writing realistic dialogue
- Behind the characters - Adam Greene and Alex Albury in my thriller mysteries
- Pauline Rowson what's on in January and 2020
- 2019
- 2018
- 2017
- 2016
- 2015
- 2014
- 2013
- 2012